Invader of the Mind, Body, and Spirit
by MJ Banks
Summary: Rated R for language, violence. Something strange is going on. Can the Star Fox team discover it before it's too late? Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Starfox characters and other Starfox items. They belong to Nintendo. Please R and R. (Finished!!!!!!)
1. It begins

Falco Lombardi rolled over in his bed, the sheets wrapping into a knot around his legs. He had awoken too early again. Squinting through the darkness, he read the display on the alarm clock. The glowing numbers red two something o'clock. 

"No use trying to get back to sleep. Shit!" the avian muttered to himself. Pulling on his Avian Football League T-Shirt and a pair of ragged jeans, Falco wandered out into the corridor of Great Fox. He felt the hum through the hull as he ambled to the galley for a snack. It's not like there was much else he could do. 

Reaching the correct door, he lethargically pushed it open, his hands a bit stiff from his slumber. Groping around in darkness, he scrabbled at the wall for the light switch. Finding it, he flicked it up stiffly with his thumb. The lights winked on, glowing white on the racked pots and pans and stainless steel appliances.

Falco fumbled around, still half-asleep, searching the refrigerator for some food that didn't need cooking. He was too exhausted for that (the exception being the microwave.) He shuffled about inside, knocking the occasional item to the floor, and cursing softly to himself. Finally finding something, a leftover baked potato, he grabbed the butter and went to the microwave.

After hitting the "reheat" button, he stooped wearily in front of the lit door, and when the oven finally beeped, he removed his snack and slumped into a galley stool that was pulled up to the island in the middle. There, he clumsily pulled at the skin, slopping butter about, until he just dozed off on the counter. 

The next morning, Fox entered the galley to prepare breakfast for the team. He almost burst into hysterical laughter when he saw Falco, potato bits and globs of butter all over his beak and the feathers on the side of his head. He went about his business, giggling all the time, and then opened the com link to call the guys to breakfast. They came, already awake and dressed, and lost it. Slippy nearly burst into tears laughing, and Peppy slumped to the ground and pounded the floor. 

This roused Falco, and he rose from the stool, a little less exhausted than that night, noticed the butter dripping down his beak and exclaimed, "SHIT!" and proceeded to the bathroom, almost blushing. 

Regaining their senses, the three gathered around the island, Slippy wiping up the mess, and munched down the scrambled eggs and bacon. Slippy kept laughing, though, and spilled his drink all down his shirt, nearly toppling the stool. Recovering, he got another paper towel and cleaned up once more, then went back to his room to retrieve a new shirt.

Falco returned while Slippy was gone. "So, you wanna try that again?" asked Fox. "Oh, shut up," returned Falco, a grin on his beak. "Don't make me remind you," the bird added, "about the Lax incident." "The what?" Peppy inquired. Falco perked up. "One time, me and Fox flew down to Lax to pick up a spare part. Before we had gone, Fox had slept with three women and dozed off with his head in the toilet." Fox blushed. "Did that really happen?" asked the rabbit. "Um…depends…" Fox replied. Slippy then returned and broke up the gossip. 

Fox set down a plate for Falco too, and they resumed eating. Falco finished first, and left the room. "Thanks man," said he and he punched Fox in the shoulder on the way out. "Where's he off to in such a hurry?" questioned Slippy. "His G-diffuser's still catching a little. He noticed during our test flight. It sure is a relief not to have to fly in combat anymore." "Don't let Falco hear you say that, Fox," Peppy joked. "Never," said Fox with a smirk.

The rest finished their meal, almost at the same time, and Slippy and Fox proceeded to the hangar to join Falco. Peppy went off to do some checks on their emergency battle plan. 

The two jogged down the hallway, Slippy tripping on a loose cable and landing on his face. "You okay, Slip?" Fox hurriedly asked. "Yeah, but I tripped on this stupid wire. He glanced down to his foot. There was the troublesome cable, but with a very low profile. "I guess I'm just clumsy." grinned the frog. 

A little farther down, Fox and Slippy reached the hangar. Tapping the airlock release, the door slid open, they entered, and the other door opened. There was Falco, lying on the Arwing gantry, scraping something out of the G-diffuser generator pipe. 

"Eeew. What's that stuff?" asked Fox, sticking his tongue out. "I don't know," responded Falco, "smelly for one." "Looks like mud or grease," said Slippy, and proceeded to kneel down on the gantry to look inside the pipe.

He couldn't see the maintenance light.

"Hey, Falco, crank that thing up, will ya?" 

"Gotcha Slip." and the avian climbed into the cockpit and flicked on the G-diffuser. 

"Damn. It's gone from catching to stalling." he said, slamming his fist onto the glowing panel before him. 

"Don't worry, just throttle up." Slippy commanded. Falco did this, the hum turning to a buzz, then a rumble, then an outright roar. 

"Slip! It's overloading." Falco warned. Slippy paid no attention, only pulling at the gunk with a hook. The G-diffuser roared louder, and suddenly there was a bang and the machine promptly died. Slippy lie on the gantry, mud all over his face and the metal grating.

"Pppht. Yuck. This is mud, and it smells!" yelled Slippy. He proceeded to go to the sink, but thought better and just wiped at it with a towel. 

"What I want to know," said Fox, "is how mud got in a G-diffuser." He looked a Falco suspiciously. "I must've brushed the ground during our last strafing run on Venom or something." Falco shot back, a little insulted.

"Guys, I'm going to have to dismantle the G-diffuser to get all that mud out. That probably includes circuitry. I need some cleaning tools and a screwdriver and wrench." Slippy ordered.

"All right." said Fox, and proceeded to go after the required tools. When it came to machines, there was no arguing with Slippy. Fox returned a moment later, a box of cleaning tools and a screwdriver and wrench. '

"Thanks, Fox." Slippy said, popping open the cleaning tools' box. 

"Everything okay?" asked Peppy, entering. "I heard a bang." 

"Just my stupid G-diffuser," said Falco "full of mud." meanwhile Slippy had gotten the maintenance panel off and was pulling out machinery, all of it clogged with mud. 

"Dang it!" he said, releasing an energizer connection. 

"This is why it stalled!" Slippy yelped, " The starter and the energizer are all mudded up." He slid out a green glowing motherboard from the panel. The plastic circuit was dripping with brown muddy water. 

"Crap! The motherboard's fused. I need a new one."

"Got it," said Falco, and he jumped out of the cockpit and hurried to circuitry storage. He didn't return. The others began to worry. 

"That's it. What's he up to now?" yelled Fox, and ran off in search of Falco. He found him, sprawled out in the corridor, holding his head. 

"Arrrrgh! It hurts!" screeched Falco.

"What's the matter?" Fox quickly inquired, worried.

"My head…Shit! My head…Oh fuck!" 

"Hold up, just a second." Fox quickly comforted, and punched in a com link to Peppy back in the hangar. 

"Peppy, come in," shouted the vulpine, "Falco's havin' trouble!"

"Right away!" responded Peppy, and the screen flicked off. Peppy arrived in the middle of Falco's seizure. 

Thrusting his arm toward the medical cabinet in sickbay, Peppy commanded, "Get me a sedative!" Fox did as instructed, and Peppy injected the clear vial of liquid into Falco's arm. He stopped shaking and Fox wiped away the foam on his beak. 

"Is he gonna be okay?" Fox quickly demanded.

"As far as I can tell, yes," responded Peppy, and he checked the avian's pulse. Suddenly he noticed Fox staring at the wall, completely spaced out. 

"You okay? Fox??" asked Peppy. Fox snapped back.

"Oh…yeah…" and he started to look queasy. 

"Fox?" demanded Peppy. Suddenly, the com link screen behind him came to life. It was Slippy.   
"I got the G-diffuser fixed. Hey, what's wrong with them?" Slippy said in a flustered tone.

"I don't know," Peppy responded, "but you'd better get down here quick!" 

"All right!" 

Slippy was there within a minute, and he immediately noticed Fox sitting on the floor, legs crossed, intently looking at the wall as if the very secret of life itself was written there. Falco just lay immobile on the table. 

Slippy waved a hand in front of Fox's face. 

"Hey, hello, anybody home," he said sarcastically. 

"Knock that off!" commanded Peppy, worried. Slippy stopped immediately. 

"So what happened?" inquired the young toad. 

"I don't know, Fox found Falco laying in the hall, and then he zoned out while he was in here."

"Wow. That's creepy. Can we snap them out of it?" 

"I don't know, Slip, Falco was having a seizure, so I gave him a tranquilizer, but apparently it didn't work. 


	2. More Trouble

Peppy gazed anxiously at Fox and Falco. Falco just lay there, stone stiff on the table. Fox sat, transfixed looking at the wall. Slippy paced about nervously. 

"What's wrong with them, Peppy?" Slippy asked nervously. 

"I don't know," he responded, checking out a blood sample, "there's no trace of any foreign substances or cells in these blood samples. Falco began to shake uncontrollably. 

"Oh, crap!" Peppy yelled, and he administered another tranquilizer. Falco stopped quaking. 

"I'm worried," yelped Slippy, "I-I mean, w-w-what's wr-wrong wi--" Slippy wheezed, grabbing the table to steady himself. 

"Slippy, what's wrong?" Peppy asked quickly, a worried look on his face. 

"I…I…I can-c-can't b-b-b-breathe!" he gasped, and fell to the floor. 

"Relax, Slip, you're having a panic attack." Peppy comforted.

"N-no, I've h-had a panic attack b-before. Th-this isn't--" he choked out, before losing consciousness. 

"Rob! Rob come in!" he yelled at the wall mounted electronic eye. Silence answered him. 

"Rob! Can you hear me?" Peppy repeated. This time, a strange alien voice, female, was his response. It seemed to come from everywhere.

"Your precious robot is no more!" the voice hissed. "I control this ship now," it said, and burst into maniacal laughter. 

"Let's see how you handle this," the voice boomed, and the artificial gravity shut down, sending red droplets flying out of the blood sample containers. Suddenly, Peppy's chest tightened, and the critical atmosphere alert sounded. He kick-floated over towards the emergency air tank, the pressure dropping past twenty percent. 


	3. System Failure

Grasping the air tank, Peppy hooked three more hoses into the manifold, and slipped the masks over his teammates' mouths. They were still breathing. He strapped one on himself and floated over to a wall panel. 

Prying the panel loose with a scalpel, Peppy hauled back on the manual pressure override, and the hour-long cycling and re-pressurizing process began. 

And so Peppy hung there, listening to the release of valves and the bang of levers. Finally, air blasted back into the ship, and peppy ripped his mask off and flung it aside. The pressure was at eighty percent, and stuck there. 

"The release must've bled off some redundant air. Oh well," said Peppy, and noticed Falco stirring. He kicked around wildly, scrabbling for a floating tranquilizer vial. Falco, however, was not having another seizure. He pushed himself up off the table and gazed around. 

"Shit! What happened?" the avian demanded.   
"I don't know. Something's invaded this ship and it's taken over the systems and destroyed Rob."

"Damn it!" Falco shouted, slamming his fist into the table, which floated back down towards the floor. 

"Let's get back to the hangar, see if we can get out in our Arwings," Peppy said, fiddling with his flight jacket.

"What about these guys?" questioned Falco, motioning towards the two floating bodies. 

"That's right. We can't leave them here with that thing loose in the ship," said the hare, putting his hand on his chin. 

"I'll check it out," Falco said, "you carry Fox and Slippy and wait outside the hangar door. I'll see if our Arwings work."

"Okay," was Peppy's response. The duo floated to the hangar airlock, along the corridor. When they reached it, Falco said, "Okay, I'm going in." and opened the inner door. 

"It's clear. There's pressure on the other side," said Falco, and the inner door slid shut. Peppy watched through a small square window what Falco was doing. He wrestled with the release system for the Arwing docking arms, but to no avail. Suddenly, Falco floated, terrified, from the terminal. 

The inner door whooshed open. 

"What's wrong, Falco?" asked Peppy, very worried. 

"System-wide power surge," he panted, and suddenly, the lights brightened and great sounds of crackling electricity were heard everywhere. Sparks exploded in great waving columns and rippled through the corridor. The dim orange emergency lights came on, flickering, as more and more panels burst open, spraying out smoke and sparks. 

"Fire warning," said the monotone emergency warning system. 

"Uh-oh. Looks like we've gotta deal with a zero-g fire!" Falco yelped, as an orange mushroom of flame rolled off the bulkhead corner just down the corridor and flared toward them.


	4. Save Our Ship!

The flames spurted from every burned circuit and fuel line in the corridor. Peppy and Falco were barely able to avoid the mushrooming cloud. 

"That was close!" exclaimed Peppy.

"We gotta put this fire out," said Falco, "put those guys in the hangar airlock, where they'll be safe."

Peppy did as he was told and towed Fox and Slippy over to the airlock. Prying the door open with his hands, he threw the two in, and shut the door with the emergency handle. 

"Got 'em?" inquired the avian.

"Yep. Let's get this thing put out!" Peppy replied. 

They kicked down the corridor, dodging fiery blasts and choking on the dense acrid smoke. 

"Atmosphere toxicity at thirty-five percent," sounded the warning system. Peppy choked a little, and Falco began to cough continuously. 

"Gotta…get to the suit…locker…" he wheezed. They proceeded to do this, and within fifteen minutes, hand donned their suits and were back with a vengeance.

Grasping a wall panel, Falco ripped it off and used his combat knife to cut through an auto-extinguisher line. It sprayed the invisible Halo-Carbonate gas which quickly snuffed the flames down most of the hall. Farther along, Falco ruptured another line, and let the gas flow out, killing off most of the remaining flames. 

So this continued, the flames slowly dying, until finally, the pair heard from the warning system, "All fires extinguished." They sighed out of relief, and smiled at each other until Peppy said,

"What about that's invaded the ship." A frown crossed both their faces. 


	5. Revival

Pulling out Slippy and Fox, Peppy and Falco pulled them back to sickbay. Falco mumbled something to himself, and Peppy checked the air, to make sure that the Halo-Carbonate stayed out of the atmospheric system. 

"I think I have an idea," Peppy announced suddenly, perking up a bit. 

"Tell," demanded Falco, pulling at a patch of charred blue feathers. 

"I think I can snap them out of this. If I use a pair of electrodes, I might be able to apply an electrical pulse to their brains and stimulate some activity. I can use a brief, low-heat pulse, so the risks would be low," explained the hair 

"Let's try it. I can't think of a better idea," replied Falco, as they arrived at the sickbay. 

Forcing the door open, they entered, and flung their teammates inside, then closed the door anew. Peppy slotted a barrel key into the lock on the steel cabinet marked "high voltage." He removed a smaller box, and opened it, revealing a set of ten electrodes, a battery, a controller, and some contact gel. 

"Were ya goin'?" Falco inquired as peppy kicked back through the door and into the hallway. He got no reply. 

Peppy returned a minute or so later, a razor in his hand. 

"What's with the razor?" Falco asked immediately. 

"Well, these electrodes have to have contact on the skin, so I'll have to shave off some of Fox's fur to make a positive contact."

"Ah," Falco returned simply. Peppy flicked the razor on, and grazed off a small patch of fur just below each of Fox's ears. He clicked the battery into place and closed the compartment, then inserted the input and output wires. 

"Just keep in mind, Falco, that this may not work, and we might have to resort to other options, as long as nothing goes wrong…" Peppy trailed off. 

"What exactly are the risks of doing this," Falco suspiciously demanded. 

"Brain damage, rewiring, neuronic disorders," Peppy replied, ticking each one off on his fingers. 

"Are those all. You'd better be damn sure that those are all," the avian shot back.

"There's also a slight, very slight, possibility of sudden death," came Peppy's grim answer. 

"Well, it's better than wondering," he said, pondering. "Let's do it." 

Gel was spread on the absent-fur patches, to which electrodes were applied. Peppy carefully selected a voltage, waited a second while it charged, and tapped the pulse button. Fox jolted, sending him into an awkward spin in the gravity-free room. This popped the electrodes free, and Fox began to move for a moment. This movement stopped, and the pair almost gave up, but suddenly, he opened his eyes, looked around, and scrabbled for the floor. 

"Fox!" yelled Falco, overjoyed. 

"I knew you'd pull through," said Peppy, smiling. 

"What happened?" asked Fox, shaking off the stiffness. 

"Long story," Falco said. 

The procedure was repeated on Slippy, and soon he was awake as well, asking about his whereabouts in his normal high-pitched voice. 


	6. The Invader

Revived, the team floated through the corridor. They made their way along miles and miles of passageway, the alien voice only ringing out once. 

"Yes, just keep coming, my prey," it said. Slippy nearly passed out. Falco immediately flicked his head around, looking for the source. 

Further along the way to the cockpit, the presumed site of the invader, the team stopped to eat and drink before they continued on the way. 

And so they continued. Very little was said, and Slippy barely avoided fainting four times. 

Finally, they reached the cockpit hatch. Fox moved to the scanner, swiped his card, and pressed a thumb onto the DNA pad. Nothing happened. He repeated the process. Still no response. He tried it once more. Still, the door stood, sealed. 

Borrowing Falco's knife, Slippy popped loose the front panel, containing the scanner and DNA pad. The circuit boards were missing. 

"Shit!" exclaimed Falco, and Slippy proceeded to search the floor and storage compartments nearby for the missing circuitry. He found nothing. Then, out of curiosity, Fox gazed into the porthole. 

Inside the cockpit, there were about ten techs, all secured to the front console with some sort of green elastic-looking substance.   
"Let me see!" commanded the toad. He screamed as soon as he looked. At least two of the techs were dead, massive, jagged holes in their throats, blood slowly seeping out of the wounds and dripping through the air. Fox then turned away from him and back at the window. Then, he saw it. 

The thing was about seven feet tall, blue-skinned, with a wedge-shaped snout and two antennae. All over it, in patches, or just seemingly protruding from nowhere, were green tendrils, and a mass of tentacles sprouted from its back. It moved, just its movements threatening and intent, toward one of the techs. It opened its mouth, revealing a set of huge curved fangs. Some vile tongue-like appendage slid out of its mouth, and it floated down towards the screaming tech. 

The thing sank its fangs into the helpless rabbit's throat. It made a sound of pleasure, as if it was eating something delicious. When it was finished, the tech was stone dead, drops of some yellow-green substance mixing with blood dripping from the fangs. Slippy fainted. 

"My god! It's a fuckin' vampire!" shouted Falco. The thing was turned around, cleaning up the last bits of blood left behind, revealing the disgusting knot of tendril-covered flesh from which the tentacles sprouted. 

"This is serious. We may have a real problem on our hands," stated Peppy.

"May??" shouted the avian, "That thing would kill us like fukcin' ants!"

"Yeah, Falco's right. This isn't going to be easy." 

"What? 'Not easy??' We're talking impossible. Did you see what that thing did?" Falco shot back. Fox winced and put his hand on his throat. Slippy came to behind them. 

"So…so wh-what're we gonna do??" the toad eagerly questioned.

The others could think of absolutely nothing to say. Falco just narrowed his eyes, and Peppy looked back through the window in disbelief. 


	7. Fight

The four puzzled out in the corridor, floating about, wondering what they could do about the invader. Peppy would come up with an idea every minute or so, only to tell himself it wouldn't work. Slippy jittered around, occasionally bumping into something, and Falco mused about. Fox just stared into the window, not knowing what to do. 

"I've got it!" Slippy exclaimed suddenly. 

"What?" asked Fox impatiently. 

"We can set this ship into self-destruct and go to the escape pods!" he responded.

"Blow up a three-hundred billion dollar piece of military equipment? You're crazy!" Falco yelled.

"Give me a better idea," demanded the toad, glaring. 

"I'll give you a black eye!" Falco responded. 

"Try it!" squealed Slippy. Falco gave him a crisp crack in the nose. 

"Cut it out, Falco!" Peppy yelled, dodging another swing, this one directed at him. 

"Shut the fuck up!" the avian responded, catching Fox in the eye. Fox swung back, missing. He swung again, this time getting Falco in the beak. 

"Knock it off, Fox!" commanded Peppy. Falco whacked him in the face. 

"Shut up!" Falco screamed. Fox finally managed to grab his right arm. Peppy got the left, and Slippy made sure he didn't squirm free. 

The three dragged Falco back through the corridors of scorched metal. They drug him back to sickbay, tied him down, and sedated him. He kicked and cursed constantly, but the gurney stayed put. The other three members of the team raced back through the hall, back to the cockpit. Upon reaching it, Slippy said,

"What was that all about? I just gave a suggestion."

"He doesn't want to have to pay for the ship. Or else, he doesn't know how bad this is," responded Fox.

"Maybe it's something else," Peppy interjected. The others gazed at him. 

"What?" asked Slippy. 

"Maybe he's insane. He was the first one to experience 'problems'" the hare said. 

"That just might be it," Fox resolved. 

"I agree. He may usually be violent, but not _that _violent," said the young toad. 

"So what do we do?" asked Peppy. The others looked surprised, then all of them frowned. 

"Well, maybe…" Slippy trailed off. Peppy stared at the thing floating in the cockpit, and Fox looked around for anything he could use. There was nothing. Slippy could think of nothing. Peppy just floated there. Fox fiddled with the DNA pad. No one had an answer. 


	8. The Loss

And so, the four Star Fox Team members rambled around in front of the door, not knowing what they could do to solve the fact of the invader that had somehow gotten onboard the Great Fox. 

Suddenly, Peppy and Fox got weird looks on their faces. 

"What's so important?" the hare questioned. 

"Nothing!" Fox giggled in response, and the two suddenly started running away from the door, playing around like little children. Their frolicking voices faded. Slippy was left alone in the corridor, incompetent against the threat of the disgusting vampire thing. He had no idea what to call it, so he pretty much decided on "It." Suddenly, the toad had a thought. It was a strange, alien thought, not his, coming into his mind. The thought was: "Its name Is Neazca." Slippy screamed.

Now not only had all Slippy's other teammates gone insane or naïve, now something was giving him thoughts. He stood in silence for an hour or so, listening to his mind. Nothing else came. He felt that it was a one-time deal, and he was glad for that. 

But still the matter of "Neazca." Slippy stared into the porthole again. The thing suddenly seized, trembled, and veins and tendrils appeared and throbbed. Tentacles sprouted, fangs ruptured the gums, and larger tendrils crept over the body. Some sickening tongue appendage came through the lips, a translucent gray slab of flesh, but something with sharp toothy spikes occasionally slid through the tongue, oozing out the front and retracting. Slippy fainted.

Although he only stayed out a few minutes, it was enough for him to receive the news. _Yes. I'm transforming. I'm metamorphasizing. I'll be changing again, too. I'm your worst nightmare_, came the intrusive idea, this time in the first person.

"Oh man…help…" he gasped, trying to relax and let himself float. He dozed off. This may have been the single worst mistake of his life. 

Slippy awoke in front of the cockpit hatch. He rubbed his eyes from sleep. He had been quite comfortable in the zero-gravity air. But then his comfort dissipated. Inside the cockpit, the thing had changed again. Six arms. More tentacles. A more vile appendage sliding out of the tongue. And worse than anything Slippy would ever imagine, worse than all the clumsiness and the near-amputation of his thumb twice, all the shame and misfortune and getting stranded on Titania. All the terrors he had faced never came up to this. Fox was dead, stuck to a console, his throat torn out messily. His only friend, dead. He cried. He bawled and let it blob from the corners of his eyes for a half an hour.

Eventually, though, Slippy gathered his thoughts and stared back into the death room, averting his eyes away from Fox's corpse. Instead, he scanned the room for any trace of the other two team members. They were not there. He floated around, back and then back to the cockpit, reaching the second entrance. He scanned the room from that viewpoint. There was nothing of the others. They were supposedly safe. But nothing could demolish the toads morale any further. He began to sob softly again. 


	9. Captive

Once again, Slippy made an effort to calm and comfort himself. Even so, he felt more alone, powerless, and panicky than he ever had before. He fidgeted about about in the hall in front of the door leading to the cockpit. Slippy couldn't bear to think of that door. After what must've been an hour, Slippy heard something. Or not heard so much as felt, thought. It was another invasive thought.

_Yes, he's dead. He tasted good too. _It said in Slippy's mind before bursting into evil laughter. Slippy held his head, squeezing his eyes tightly shut so hard that it made his temples hurt. He knew the cause of this was just a few feet on the other side of the door, but he couldn't take even looking at such an evil thing. He performed the zero-gravity equivalent of running back the other way, still squeezing the sides of his head and squinting. 

He reached the galley, floated about and collided with a chair. He didn't care, but stopped, hanging in the middle of the room amongst the pots and pans and utensils, and let his mind go blank. He dozed into a restless, uncomfortable sleep. 

When he awoke, he found himself amongst pulled wiring and shattered circuits. The place he inhabited was dark, too dark for him to tell where he was. A single light flickered, illuminating the occasional control panel or medicine bottle. Here a coil, there a replacement EM valve. And then, he saw it. A glimmer of movement. He snapped his head towards it, only he couldn't. His head was bound with something. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fox, slumped forward with one arm in the air. Stone dead, although nothing should have changed that from when he died and now. Slippy vomited, streaks of blood visible in the dim light as it splattered a screen between the two hatches. 

He then recognized the thing, although it had changed again. It was now a weird, icky mass of tentacles. When it turned, though, Slippy barely avoided vomiting again. There were at least four eyes, the visible ones arranged in a trapezoid. The tongue was a three-appendage thing around a set of inner fangs. Tendrils pulsed all over it. It had sprouted another set of arms and legs. 

The thing toyed with Slippy, first just sort of smiling and baring its fangs, then with the alien thoughts again. 

_I know what you're thinking_, it thought to him, _you know what fate awaits you. I hope you're as tasty as your friend here. _At that point, Slippy lost it. Not his breakfast, though, his temper. He madly pulled at the mass of sticky substance that secured him to the console. The thing laughed. _It's always fun when they struggle_, it said, moving towards him. Unbeknowest to it, Slippy's arm was free and he'd procured an extremely long, jagged shard of metal. 

The thing bared its fangs at Slippy again, the three tongues coming together into a dome then splitting back apart. Slippy knew that he only had one chance. 


	10. The End Of the Insanity

Unstable and sweating, Slippy reared up, the thing copied, and he struck. The piece of jagged metal in his hand slashed the things right eye. Out of reflex more than fear, he tore at the left, cutting wildly, insanely almost, vengeful. His eyes almost glowed with rage as he attacked the thing, cutting through everything he could, splattering blood on himself like thick green ketchup. 

When Slippy was sure that the thing was dead, he cut it up a few more times, then stumbled out of the room, in shock. He raced down the hall, having to manually find his teammates. He searched everywhere that they might be. Absolutely everywhere. They were not in the hangar, not in the galley. Nor were they in the library or the entertainment room. There was no sign of them in either the power or fuel junctions. 

Just when Slippy began to lose hope, when he was sure that the thing had gotten them too, he saw them. 

Puzzled looks on their faces, Peppy and Falco gazed about. 

"Guys! You ran off! What's your problem, playin' like four year olds!" Slippy screamed at the top of his little lungs. 

"I'm just as worried as you," Falco said.

"Yeah," added Peppy, "it's like a dead spot."

"Well, hurry up. There's a certain nasty thing that we need to flush out the airlock," Slippy said, smirking. 

And, so they drug the body of the thing out to the only functioning external airlock. All three entered, dragging the lifeless corpse. 

Suddenly, the thing's eyes blinked open…


End file.
